Cops: Man confessed to wife’s shooting on social media, killed himself

A jilted Clayton County husband who confessed to his wife’s shooting on social media killed himself Wednesday when he was approached by officers in northwest Atlanta, authorities said.

Atlanta police and Clayton County sheriff’s deputies tracked Orlando Rodriguez Otero’s vehicle to the area of Griffin Street around 5 a.m. With the help of a K-9, they found him standing in a grassy area outside an apartment complex at the corner of Griffin and North Avenue, Atlanta police Capt. William Ricker told AJC.com.

“When the officers spotted him, he had a firearm and a phone in his hand,” Ricker said. “Shortly thereafter, he put the gun to his head and shot himself.”

Credit: Clayton County Sheriff's Office

Credit: Clayton County Sheriff's Office

Clayton County authorities had been looking for Otero since he allegedly shot his wife at their Morrow Road apartment Tuesday night.

According to the sheriff’s office, Otero’s son called 911 from inside a locked bathroom to report his father and mother were fighting. The child also told dispatchers he heard gunshots.

When police got to the apartment around 8:30 p.m., Otero was gone. They found the woman shot three times in the face, head and stomach, a sheriff’s spokesman said in a news release. She remains in critical condition and is “fighting for her life.”

“Clayton County police detectives found that the shooting suspect, who they identified as Orlando Rodriguez Otero, shot his wife after an argument and left the scene saying that she would be all right,” the spokesman said. “... Otero then made a live social media post confessing to shooting his wife over another man.”

Atlanta police were processing the suicide scene Wednesday morning. Clayton County Sheriff Victor Hill was also on scene.